


In the Name of the Moon

by futuresoon



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Geekiness, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-22
Updated: 2011-08-22
Packaged: 2017-10-22 23:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/243534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/futuresoon/pseuds/futuresoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All recreational activities are equal in the eyes of friendship. (Written for t_and_b_anon.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Name of the Moon

"So this is--what did you say we were watching again?" Keith asks. He hadn't quite understood why Ivan had asked him over in the first place, but, in the interests of friendship, he didn't even consider questioning it. Friends spend time together and share each other's interests, yes? So it shouldn't matter what the interest was, really. All recreational activities are equal in the eyes of friendship.

Ivan looks at him. "It's called Sailor Moon," he says. "It's like a superhero story. Only they're all teenage girls in sailor suits."

Keith tries to picture Karina and Paolin in naval uniforms and fails. But, he supposes, not everyone has the benefit of a sponsor designing their costumes; perhaps if one member of a group found something they liked then the rest would follow for the sake of visual unity. And military wear is very respectable. "Right, right," he says, settling into the couch.

Ivan's apartment is an interesting place to be. Some superheroes spend their considerable paychecks on the usual trappings of extravagance--fine art, pools, staircases large enough to qualify as their own country. Others--although surely not anyone Keith knows personally--throw money at parties and alcohol and other licentious activities. Keith gives most of it to charity. The best way to fight crime is to prevent people from becoming desperate enough to commit it, after all. But Ivan's apartment, while large and well cared-for, is almost...spare. Or it would be, if it weren't for the shelves lining every wall, crammed with comics and DVDs and dolls and action figures and everything else Keith supposes must be what the kids are into these days. He thinks he even saw some of the Hero TV collectible cards carefully arranged in a binder. The main room is dominated by a massive television and speaker system. And the couch. It's a very comfortable couch, actually. Sometimes the best use for money is just to improve the simple things.

Ivan puts the disc into the DVD player and returns to the couch. He sits like someone who is used to sprawling all over but suddenly has to make room for someone else, which makes Keith wonder if anyone else comes to this apartment often, or if Ivan even bothers to invite anyone. His train of thought is interrupted when Ivan thrusts a bowl of popcorn at him. Green popcorn. Keith blinks.

"...it's green tea-flavored," Ivan says, and presses play while Keith is busy staring at the bowl. After a moment, Keith tries a piece, and is surprised to discover that it actually tastes quite good. Very salty, though.

The screen explodes into a burst of color. Peppy music blasts from the speakers. The silhouette of a cat and a girl with long hair appears against a moon, and a woman starts singing in Japanese about straightforwardness and moonlight. As more characters appear, Keith doesn't notice any sailor suits, but perhaps they'll show up later. The woman stops singing, and the scene shifts to the long-haired girl waking up in bed, panicking about being late for school. Keith munches on the popcorn. As origin stories go, this one doesn't seem to be too traumatic.

Around halfway through the episode--an obviously villainous jewelry-seller is attempting to unload obviously villainous jewels upon the unknowing heroine--Keith notices that Ivan is watching him. Not constantly, but his eyes flicker from the screen to Keith with regularity, checking for Keith's reactions. Keith hopes he's been reacting the right way. He doesn't want to seem disinterested in something a friend considers important. And the show certainly is entertaining, so surely he can convey that? Regardless, he makes sure to make an especially worried noise when the villainous jewelry-seller attacks the girl's best friend. Ivan still keeps glancing at him, but he seems a little less nervous when he does.

The girl is told by a talking cat that she is the chosen one, and, after some initial disbelief, proceeds to shout the magic phrase that transforms her outfit into a slightly different one. Keith wishes it was that easy to get into costume; there are so many different pieces and they all have to go in the right order and frankly that helmet is _heavy_. He can't imagine what it's like for Kotetsu and Barnaby, who can't even put their suits on by themselves. He hasn't seen Ivan change, though. He'll have to ask him how he does it.

After an appearance by a mysterious yet supportive young man, the villainous jewelry-seller is defeated--or at least, the evil creature pretending to be her is--and the girl returns to her normal life. The credits roll as another woman sings another song in Japanese, though the background images aren't nearly as colorful this time. Keith turns to look at Ivan, who is, of course, staring at him intently, waiting.

"That was fun!" Keith says. He's pleased to see Ivan's eyes light up at the reaction. "It's nice to see a story where a hero can save someone for the sake of saving them, isn't it?" He doesn't dislike his job--far from it--but, well, there are aspects he doesn't enjoy as much. So it's gratifying to see someone who doesn't have to deal with them.

"Yes," Ivan says, and then, hesitantly, "Would you like to watch the next one?"

"Certainly!" Keith says, and again is happy to notice Ivan relax a little. Their job is stressful enough as it is; they shouldn't have to worry about how they spend their free time. He takes another bite of popcorn and doesn't notice how Ivan's side leans into his when the next episode starts.

\---

After that, Keith spends more and more time at Ivan's apartment. There's quite a lot of Sailor Moon, as it turns out, and as more characters are introduced and the story grows more complicated Keith's interest only grows. He watched cartoons when he was a kid, of course, but they tended not to have much in the way of an extended story, whereas Sailor Moon is two hundred episodes of character development and plot twists and real danger. And the Sailor Senshi are a real group, the kind of friends Keith wishes the rest of their coworkers would be, still connected and around each other even when there isn't any crime going on. And, frankly, he likes seeing superheroes who can still be real heroes, who don't have to be tied down by reality and finances and audience appeal. Usagi fights Queen Beryl because Queen Beryl is hurting people. That's all there is to it.

Besides, Ivan seems to be enjoying having someone to share all of this with. The order the dolls and figures are arranged in shifts, moving the Senshi to the front, and the posters on the walls are replaced by Sailor Moon as well. Ivan claims that he rotates them periodically. Keith supposes this must be true.

And the look on Ivan's face when Keith can identify every significant character difference between the anime, manga, Pretty Guardian, and SeraMyu would be worth it even if Keith wasn't so enamored of the series, anyway.

(He still doesn't know how the navy comes into it, though.)


End file.
